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Washington’s Government-Funded Museums are Closed in the Wake of Shutdown, Barring Visitors from Exhibitions of Dawoud Bey, Mark Bradford, Gordon Parks, and Others

“DUE TO THE GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN, all Smithsonian museums are closed.” The message is featured in a banner across the top of all of the institution’s websites. A similar message is posted on the doors of the museums, which closed to the public on Tuesday. The Smithsonian is “the world’s largest museum, education, and research complex.” As a result of the closure, visitors are barred from several exhibitions featuring African American artists, including Gordon Parks (1912-2006), Dawoud Bey, and Mark Bradford.

The federal government shut down on Friday, Dec. 21, at midnight, after the U.S. Congress failed to pass a spending bill as negotiations with the President broke down over funding for a border wall with Mexico. After nearly two weeks, the situation remains at an impasse. About 800,000 federal government employees are impacted by the shutdown.

(The closure is a partial shutdown. Agencies that have already been funded and others classified as essential will continue to operate as usual.)

Located on the National Mall, the National Gallery of Art is not a Smithsonian museum, but it does receive government funding. Relying on unspent reserves, NGA managed to eke out an extra day of operation and remained open through Wednesday. It’s closed now, too.

Starting today, Thursday, Jan. 3, all of Washington’s government-funded museums are closed, including the National Zoo, another Smithsonian venue. The closure means visitors are missing out on Bardford’s “Pickett’s Charge” at the Hirshhorn and “Between Worlds: The Art of Bill Traylor” at the American Art Museum. The Bill Traylor exhibition is “the first major retrospective ever organized for an artist born into slavery, and the most comprehensive look at Bill Traylor’s work to date.”

Those who haven’t had a chance to visit “UnSeen: Our Past in a New Light, Ken Gonzales-Day and Titus Kaphar” at the National Portrait Gallery, may not get a chance to view the show given the government shutdown. The exhibition, Titus Kaphar‘s largest to date, is scheduled to run through Jan. 6.

A spokesperson for the National Portrait Gallery was unable to comment on whether “Unseen” would be extended in the wake of the closure. “We do not have any information regarding the status of exhibitions,” she told Culture Type via email. “Everything is at a stand still until the shutdown concludes.”

Solo exhibitions of photographers Parks and Bey on display at the National Gallery of Art will also go unseen until further notice. Bey called the situation “shameful.” ARTnews requested a statement from the Chicago-based artist through Mary Boone Gallery.

The closure means visitors are missing out on Mark Bardford’s “Pickett’s Charge” at the Hirshhorn and “Between Worlds: The Art of Bill Traylor” at the American Art Museum. …Solo exhibitions of photographers Gordon Parks and Dawoud Bey on display at the National Gallery of Art will also go unseen until further notice.

“How unfortunate that this administration that has already created havoc in the lives of so many has now caused the shuttering of the nation’s great museums, denying access to the works on display there to so many while callously denying a paycheck to the many staff who are the custodians of that work.” Bey said. “Access to culture is just as much a right as any other, and the president seems intent on scuttling this right too. Shameful…”

Other museums in the city, including the National Museum of Women in the Arts and the Phillips Collection, remain open according to their regular schedules. These venues, however, are not currently featuring exhibitions of work by or about people of African descent.

In Washington, check directly with museums and visit their websites for further information about closures and potential opening dates and hours in the days to come. The following exhibitions are among those shuttered due to the federal government shutdown:

In the 1940s, Gordon Parks (1912–2006) “grew from a self-taught photographer making portraits and documenting everyday life in Saint Paul and Chicago to a visionary professional shooting for Ebony, Vogue, Fortune, and Life.” Featuring 150 photographs and ephemera, this is Parks’s first exhibition to focus on the formative decade.

Dawoud Bey’s “The Birmingham Project” responds to the bombing at the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Ala., on Sept. 15, 1963. Four girls were killed and two boys died the same day, in the violent aftermath, in separate incidents in the city. The presentation at the National Gallery of Art features four diptychs and a split-screen video filmed in 2013.

“Pickett’s Charge” is Mark Bradford’s first solo exhibition in Washington, D.C. The title references a Confederate general’s failed charge against Union troops in 1863. The 360-degree cyclorama is composed of eight panels. With a circumference of 400 feet the multi-layered, mixed-media painting is Bradford’s largest work to date.

This two-artist exhibition examines the absence of African Americans, Latino Americans, and Native Americans in historical portraiture and considers how their invisibility has influenced our understanding of U.S. history. Featuring 17 paintings by Titus Kaphar, “UnSeen” is the largest presentation of the artist’s work to date.

The Bill Traylor exhibition is “the first major retrospective ever organized for an artist born into slavery, and the most comprehensive look at Bill Traylor’s work to date.” The prolific artist who settled in Montgomery, Ala., made more than 1,000 works of art primarily on discarded cardboard.

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Do you enjoy and value Culture Type? Please consider supporting its ongoing production by making a donation. Culture Type is an editorially independent solo project that requires countless hours and expense to research, report, write, and produce. To help sustain it, make a one-time donation or sign up for a recurring monthly contribution. It only takes a minute. Many Thanks for your support.

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